‘Crazy Jake’ to Retire, Close Stover’s Furniture After 48 Years in Business

Forty-eight years ago, Gary Stover started a business out of his house in the small town of Smullton, and it grew from there. After moves to Millheim and two different locations in State College, it is now time for him to retire and close the doors at Stover’s Furniture for good.

On Wednesday, his 76th birthday, Stover started his final big sale at the store that is “known for them (sales)” — a going-out-of-business sale. It will run for around 90 days, or until all the inventory is sold.

Stover grew up with the nickname “Jake,” and over the years, customers came to know him as “Crazy Jake” because of the deals he would give on furniture.

“It started when we were ordering recliners for a buy one, get one free sale. They do like five or six models for the buy one, get one free — like the lower priced models. I said I was going to do them in all of the models, and he said, ‘Well you are crazy if you are going to do that. You are not going to make much money,’” said Stover. “I said, ‘Well that’s what I am going to do,’ and that is what I did for the next 30 years with him.”

The business started as a small electronics store out of Stover’s Smullton home. Three months after starting, he was able to find a storefront in an old blacksmith shop in the small town.

After growing out of that space and adding used furniture to the inventory, Stover built a store beside his home. Eventually, he moved to Millheim in the location that is now home to Elk Creek Café.

Through the years he also worked at Penn State, and after retiring from PSU in 1992, he opened a second location in State College. The store operated beside JoAnn Fabrics for 22 years and then moved to its current location in the Nittany Mall, its home for the past seven years.

The past couple years have been a challenge for Stover due to inventory issues brought on by the pandemic. After his long-time manager told him she was moving to another state, he decided that 76 was a good age to retire. An experienced poker player, he plans to play more tournaments now that he will have more free time. He is grateful to his customers for their patronage and business over the years.

His pride for his business can be measured in its deep roots.

“It kept me and my family fed. Pretty much every penny I had over the years I put back into the business,” he said.

“I didn’t inherit this or anything like that, and my family wasn’t rich. All I did was I kept putting the money back in and building it and building it and building it.”

This story appears in the Aug. 11-17 edition of The Centre County Gazette.